woman with short dark hair holds a blue scoop full of oats up to a white horse, who munches on the oats. The woman has her hand on the horses face.

Heart's Pursuit Ranch takes a different approach from traditional talk therapy, and pairs clients with a horse. (Cami Koons | Flatland)

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Heart’s Pursuit Ranch Offers Horse Powered Healing

August 11, 2023 | Vicky Diaz-Camacho, Cami Koons | 2 min read

LONE JACK, Missouri — Sarah Hanson, a certified psychotherapist, recently founded Heart’s Pursuit Ranch, an equine-assisted coaching and psychotherapy center.

The ranch pairs individuals and horses together in a session that can help folks deal with anything from trauma to self-confidence.

“Anyone that’s in trauma doesn’t want to talk,” Hanson said. “So giving that opportunity of working with a horse, where you don’t have to talk — they know your intentions, they know your motives and they want to be with you.”

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The benefits of this type of therapy aren’t always felt immediately, Hanson explained. But later, folks will reflect on the steps they were able to take through their connection with the horse.

Before founding Heart’s Pursuit Ranch, Hanson worked with Lotus Care House to help houseless folks navigate the trauma of the pandemic and the housing crisis. There, she realized the benefit equine-assisted therapy could play in these communities, but the logistics seemed too hard.

Now that she’s founded the ranch, Hanson is determined to work through the financial and organizational barriers of bringing horses to folks who could really benefit from this type of therapy. To learn more watch the attached video.

Vicky Diaz-Camacho formerly covered community affairs for Kansas City PBS. Cami Koons covers rural affairs for Kansas City PBS in cooperation with Report for America. The work of our Report for America corps members is made possible, in part, through the generous support of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.